factors influencing first childbearing timing decisions among men: path analysis

background: factors that influence men’s childbearing intentions have beenrelatively unexplored in the literature.objective: this study aimed to determine the influencing factors about the firstchildbearing timing decisions of men.materials and methods: in this cross-sectional study, 300 men who were referredto private and governmental healthcare centers in shahrood, iran were randomlyrecruited from april to september 2014. data were collected using a demographicquestionnaire, the quality of life questionnaire; enrich marital satisfactionquestionnaire, synder’s hope scale, and the multidimensional scale of perceivedsocial support.results: after removing the statistically insignificant paths, men’s age at marriagehad the highest direct effect (β=0.86) on their first childbearing decision. maritalsatisfaction (β=-0.09), social support (β=0.06), economic status (β=0.06), andquality of life (β=-0.08) were other effective factors on men’s first childbearingdecisions. moreover, marital satisfaction and social support had significant indirecteffects on men’s childbearing decisions (β=-0.04 and -0.01, respectively).conclusion: many factors, including personal factors (age at marriage and qualityof life), family factors (marital satisfaction), and social factors (social support), canaffect men’s decision to have a child. policymakers are hence required to developstrategies to promote the socioeconomic and family conditions of the couples and toencourage them to have as many children as they desire at an appropriate time.